Despite the media’s successful attempt to convince me to fear the future of this country, to question the sanity of my neighbors or the pride of our women and other suppressed voices, I can rest today, beaming with the solid proof… that we got this.

Hateful rhetoric, racism, sexism, homophobia and pure bigotry have filled the airwaves for the past six months(at least). And sure it’s still out there, but last night it was silenced for now.

Yesterday this country showed its true colors – its new colors – as the election results came pouring in. State after state showed that people didn’t fall for the bullshit about Obama, but instead believe in his commitment to do the right thing. State after state showed that they want senators who are just as committed. States decided loud and clear that they want to give their neighbors the right to marry who they want, smoke what they want and generally have the freedoms we should all have.

Last night this country voted in the first openly gay senator, the first Asian-American senator, more women senators than ever before and we re-elected the first Black president.

By voting – not talking shit for six months- we showed what we stand for and what we won’t tolerate.

We declared that we won’t tolerate lies and greed. We declared that we won’t tolerate people trying to enforce their radical religious beliefs on us. We declared that we won’t tolerate racist white men trying to keep people of color out of power. Women declared that we won’t tolerate men making decisions about our bodies for us. We shut that shit down. (Take that, Team Rape.)

These historic votes showed the decency, the empathy, the acceptance of diversity and, thankfully, the I.Q. level of the majority of this country. It is such a relief and it is extremely exciting to think that this is the way forward.

HOWEVER, allow me this cliché: There’s still so much work to be done. California losing on Prop 37 (requiring food to have GMO labeling) proves that corporate dollars still win out no matter how hard we fight. So we keep fighting. Climate change getting just a quick mention in Obama’s acceptance speech is an effort to end climate silence, but not even close to enough. So we keep fighting. Black and Hispanic communities targeted by suppressive voter laws and abortion and healthcare attacks proves we still have a long way to go to eracism. So we keep fighting.

Armed with the results of yesterday though, the future of the fight just looks a little brighter.

It’s that time of year again for my fingers to lead me in a raging rant about the state of our disillusioned union. Courtesy of tonight’s address from the President. So forgive me, and proceed at your own risk.

Before I begin, I want to clarify that my disgust doesn’t fall in quite the same vein as what these misguided #OccupythePolls activists are feeling, having been disappointed by Obama and now retaliating by abandoning him completely and handing their protest votes over to the GOP circus. No, I am behind him 100% in the polls . I’d rather cut off my left arm than hand the country over to the alternative. In addition, I respect what he has accomplished and the impossible role he stands in. But, I most certainly am disgusted with the seemingly steady and inevitable decline of this country and the fact that our captain seems more than happy to go down with the ship. (no pun intended for the Italians)

Number one, Obama spoke about how things are looking up for our economy because companies are starting to return to the States to create jobs, as opposed to slinking off to China or India for legal slave labor. Well, first off the exploitation of foreign workers still far exceeds any new jobs being created here, and that will continue as long as it remains cheaper for them to do so. But Obama commented that this trend was occurring because it makes business sense for these companies. So my question is, is that because the economy here has crashed and unemployment is at an all time high so these multinational conglomerates can finally afford to pay Americans again? If so, is this is something to applaud? Hooray! We’ve finally hit rock bottom so that the corporations who have profited off of our demise now have financial incentive to employ us again!! We are now worth their time and attention, things are looking up!

Whatever happened to the incentive to just invest in people? To do the right thing and create jobs in the country that gave you your opportunity? Not to exploit the poor in one country only until it makes more sense to exploit them in another? But these questions are silly, I know, because of course we only value the market dollars. Obama affirmed this in his next bold statement of the night, “I will make sure to open as many markets in other countries as possible for American products.” To reiterate from last year’s rant, I think this statement hides the fact that there is nothing “fair” in many of these international trade agreements. The more we flood other countries, particularly impoverished countries, with our products the more damage we cause to their local economies and the more dependent we make them on the global power teet. So the whole scene of Obama shouting phrases like “America will always win!” while the entire Congress stands up in applause, is just nauseating. Does that make me less of an American? Is winning so important? Do we have to win all the time? I would have much more pride in my country if we just played fair.

Fairness, in my opinion, extends beyond civil rights and into environmental, animal and land rights. And when I say “land rights” I’m not talking about who owns what dirt and what we think we’re allowed to do with it. I’m talking about the way in which we should be treating the land and the ecosystem on which we all survive. These rights should be based on nature’s economy and the principals of the lost commons, which are wonderfully explained by seed and soil sovereignty advocate Vandana Shiva. These rights were clearly far from Obama’s (and Congress’s) mind tonight as he excitedly advocated for more gas drilling and offshore drilling. But fear not, as the bold print on the bottom of the screen while he spoke assured us, the President is requiring that the drilling companies disclose all the chemicals they are pumping into the earth while they drill. Phew, thank God. At least we will know now the precise type of damage being done and won’t be left wondering which toxins exactly are in our drinking water, killing our livestock and breeding cancer in our loved ones. Continue poisoning us, please, but don’t keep the chemical list a secret. Because that would be criminal.

There were some positives for the food movement though. Obama said the word “farmer” and “healthy food”! But, that was about as far as that went.

Next he spoke about our soldiers. He celebrated the fact that we no longer have soldiers in Iraq, but omitted the fact that it’s because now they’re all in Afghanistan. OK, that’s not entirely true. We have far less soldiers there than were in Iraq and yes, we are happy to no longer be loaded in both countries. He also mentioned how many thousands of troops have been able to return home, and that is great to hear, but he failed to mention the state in which these soldiers are returning home. Are we taking care of them? Are they able to find work? What about the soldiers getting away with disgusting behavior which only further tarnishes our reputation abroad, while the good soldiers come home unemployed and troubled? I wish Obama would have spoken about the amazing programs we’re starting to see now, where farms are training veterans in sustainable agriculture in an effort to simultaneously re-skill, employ and heal all of these men and women. My fellow TedXManhattan Challenge finalist, Howard Hinterthuer of the Veteran’s Food Production Project, spoke about such innovative and brilliant programs this past weekend at the TedX “Change the Way We Eat” conference. Maybe next time he can be one of Obama’s special guests tucked away in the audience somewhere for that timely, positive reference to all the progress Americans are making.

As things wound down, the President’s kick-off speech to his incumbent election campaign – which this most definitely was more than a SOTU address – took a turn for the better. It began to show a glimmer of truth. That sparkle in Obama’s eye, the one that reassures me that he is smarter than so many that reside in our nation’s capital, showed itself momentarily. He admitted to knowing – and knowing that we know – that Washington is broken. After my initial thanks Captain Obvious thought, I thought it was very nice to hear him speak about how archaic our political system is. He then went on to teach a sorely-needed lesson to his audience. One that I thought he did very cleverly.

Obama’s closing statements were not only powerful on the surface, but brilliantly wrapped into a delivery that held the perfect analogy. It was the one piece of his entire speech that I could nod my head to. While stroking America’s ego by recounting the unity it took from the men and women who killed Osama bin Laden to get the job done, our President basically laid our dirty laundry out on the table and let Congress and America know that in continuing to act like schoolchildren, and doing nothing but bickering on the playground, we will continue to destroy every opportunity we have to come up with solutions to our many problems. In that solid close I heard, America let’s stop talking and start doing. I got the sense that everyone in the room got the message, whether they absorb it or not will be the question.